Shark PowerDetect Clean & Empty IP3251UKT Review: Smart cleaning

Verdict

An incredible combination of power and technology, the Shark PowerDetect Clean & Empty IP3251UKT adjusts roller speed based on the floor type, and power when an edge is detected and when there’s dust.

With lights to show you when an area is clean and a self-empty station, this cordless vacuum cleaner handles everything automatically, maximising battery life and cleaning performance.

Topping my dust collection charts, thanks in part to a floor head that operates as well when being pushed forward or pulled back, this is a truly brilliant cordless vacuum cleaner for whole-home cleaning.

Introduction

Having, realistically, hit the limits of what suction power can do, how can a cordless vacuum cleaner genuinely be made better than what’s gone before?

The Shark PowerDetect Clean & Empty IP3251UKT has the answer: it’s smarter, cleans on the backstroke, has better edge performance and self-empties itself without bags while removing odours.

Design and Features

• MultiFlex wand
• Self-emptying station with odour cartridge
• Clean indicator

There are two versions of the vacuum cleaner: the Shark PowerDetect Cordless Stick Vacuum IP1251UKT, which is the vacuum cleaner only, and the Shark PowerDetect Clean & Empty IP3251UKT, which comes with the self-empty station. If you’ve got space, I recommend the self-empty version, as it makes life a lot easier and costs just £50 more; otherwise, both products are the same.

The IP3251UKT is the pinnacle of Shark’s vacuum cleaner experience, improving some features that existed on previous models and introducing new features entirely.

For example, the MultiFlex wand is something that I’ve seen on other Shark vacuum cleaners, such as the Shark Stratos IZ420UKT. With a hinge in the wand, MultiFlex lets the vacuum cleaner stand up when folded in half by itself, which is handy for those needed pauses in cleaning.

MultiFlex also let me clean under sofas and other bits of furniture without having to bend down. It’s a brilliant bit of technology that makes vacuuming that bit easier.

For this model, Shark has redesigned the vacuum cleaner’s head, putting the battery at the front of the handle, aligned vertically.

This better redistributes weight, making the IP3251UKT a little bit easier to wield, whether that’s using it handheld, with the floor head or for cleaning up high.

The provided floor head is a DuoClean Detect model, which has a brush for carpets and a soft roller for hard floors. Combining the two rollers into one head makes it easier to clean over a variety of surfaces without having to change the floor head.

Multiple technologies are built into the floor head to improve cleaning. That includes floor detection, which lets the head detect if it’s on carpet or hard floor, and then adjust the spin speed of the rollers.

Edge Detect means that when the head is close to the edge of a room, power is adjusted automatically to increase suction power on the matching side of the floor head.

When the vacuum cleaner is turned on it defaults to Detect mode, which lets the Shark PowerDetect Clean & Empty IP3251UKT automatically detect the level of dust, adjusting suction power on the fly. This is shown in two ways: the floor head has lights on it that turn purple when there’s dirt and white when all dust has been collected.

In addition, the vacuum cleaner has a similar status ring that runs around the screen at the back.

The combination of automatic power and the ability to see when dust has been collected is a brilliant combination that makes it easier to vacuum until your house is clean—not just clean to look at. Two additional modes can selected: low-power Eco mode and high-power Boost mode.

Direction detection is employed so that the Shark PowerDetect Clean & Empty IP3251UKT is as good sucking up dirt when it’s pulled back as it is when pushed forward. Typically, with a regular vacuum cleaner, most of the cleaning is done on the forward push, with the pull-back achieving less.

My one minor complaint about the Shark PowerDetect Clean & Empty IP3251UKT is that the battery display on the back is rather basic. Rather than showing a live battery life in minutes, as with the Dyson Gen5detect, there’s just a simple battery display that gives a basic overview of how much juice is remaining.

In the box, Shark provides the main tools that you’ll need: a mini motorised pet tool for dealing with upholstery and pet beds; a 2-in-1 crevice tool and brush, and a stiff bristle brush. That should cover most uses.

There’s no onboard tool storage, but the self-empty station does have clips to hold everything, so you can at least keep your cupboard nice and tidy.

Once you’ve finished cleaning, the Shark PowerDetect Clean & Empty IP3251UKT can be dropped into the cleaning station to be automatically emptied. This opens the dust bin and fires up the station’s vacuum to suck dust out into a 2-litre bin; the vacuum has a 0.7-litre bin.

There’s a handy switch for night mode, which turns auto emptying off, so you can use the vacuum at night without the loud station waking everyone up.

While self-empty stations are available on other vacuum cleaners, such as the Samsung Bespoke Jet AI, the Shark PowerDetect Clean & Empty IP3251UKT is notable in that its 2-litre bin is bagless, so there are no ongoing consumables to pay for.

Emptying this big bin is easy, with a large flap making it simple to get all of the dust out. I found it far easier to empty the station’s bin than I normally do a regular vacuum bin. As this bin is large, Shark says it only needs emptying every 45 days.

To keep smells at bay, the station takes one of Shark’s odour capsules, which releases a pleasant smell every time the bin is emptied. It’s a nice touch that gives a clean feeling at the end.

There’s still some manual maintenance you’ll need to do, starting with the filter on the self-empty station, which can be removed and washed.

The main vacuum cleaner has its own HEPA filter, too, which is accessed by removing its bin. Finally, the sensors around the body should be cleaned regularly, following the instructions in the manual.

Performance

• Huge amounts of power
• Incredible pick-up
• Brilliant edge performance

I started by measuring the Shark PowerDetect Clean & Empty IP3251UKT’s raw power at the handle in Air Watts (AW). On the Eco setting, I measured a useful 55AW, which is good enough for gentle cleaning with the handheld tools.

On the Boost setting, I measured power at a huge 314AW, which is the second most powerful cordless vacuum cleaner that I have ever seen.

There’s no middle power setting. Instead, the Shark PowerDetect Clean & Empty IP3251UKT uses its Detect mode and varies power between the Eco and Boost settings, based on the level of dust detected.

To see what the maximum power setting means, I lined up a row of rice next to a tape measure to see how far away from the crevice tool the Shark PowerDetect Clean & Empty IP3251UKT can collect mess. At 2.6cm, the vacuum cleaner is super-powerful for handheld jobs, such as cleaning out a cupboard or getting dust out of those hard-to-reach areas in cars.

I then switched to my real-world tests, starting with 20g of flour spread over my test carpet. Using a single forward and backward swipe through the mess, I got a nice clean line through the dirt.

I then finished vacuuming on Detect mode, until the clean lights showed that all dirt had been removed. At the end of cleaning, I measured that 99.5% of the dust had been collected and was in the bin: that’s the best result of any vacuum cleaner I have tested.

Next, I tried the difficult edge test, with 10g of flour spread right up to the skirting board. The Shark PowerDetect Clean & Empty IP3251UKT made short work of the mess, and I found that 95.5% of the dust was collected: again, that’s the best I’ve seen.

On my hard floor, I added 20g of rice and then let the Shark PowerDetect Clean & Empty IP3251UKT do its job. This job was completed quickly and 100% of the mess was collected, as I’d expect.

I combed cat hair into the carpet, and this was all removed in a single swipe of the floor head, which is good to see.

Finally, I added strands of human hair to the carpet and the Anti Hair Wrap tech showed how good it is: not a single strand was caught around either of the rollers.

Battery life is rated at up to 70 minutes on Eco mode. I measured the vacuum cleaner at 9m 24s on Boost mode, with the floor head. The Detect mode will be somewhere in the middle of this, but varies based on the floor surface and level of dirt. Vacuuming around the lab until the battery was dead, I found battery life was 36m 46s.

That’s very good, especially considering the power of the vacuum: with most dust collected on a single pass (forwards or back), it’s quick to clean a home, and a single battery will get you around most of an average home.

I measured the Shark PowerDetect Clean & Empty IP3251UKT at 75.6dB on Boost and 69dB on Eco. That’s very similar to the main competition and previous Shark vacuum cleaners that I’ve reviewed.

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